[Mortality and cause of death among Danish physicians 1973-1992]

This study examines mortality rates of Danish doctors and describes pattern and causes of death for the period 1973-1992. The study comprises 21,943 medical doctors, 6012 of whom were women. At the end of 1992 there were 2387 recorded deaths. The doctors had lower mortality rates than the general population. A significant lower mortality was seen for male medical specialists compared to general practitioners. A gender-difference was seen among the youngest doctors with the female doctors suffering a considerably higher mortality than the male doctors did. Both sexes showed SMR below unity for cancer, circulatory diseases and other natural causes. Mortality due to lung cancer was particularly low. The suicide mortality was increased for both sexes, in particular because of an increased number of suicides by poisoning. Compared with the general population the doctors' mortality was low, but the mortality from external causes was increased, mainly due to an excess number of suicides.